Episode 128: Sherlockian Coin Collecting

by Scott Monty September 15, 2017

"a case of ancient coins" [3GAR] 

Dr. Watson was once on the receiving end of a rebuke by Baron Adelbert Gruner in "The Adventure of the Illustrious Client," Gruner upbraided Watson (who was incognito as Dr. Hill Barton, avid collector of Chinese pottery). When he admitted that he had not read Gruner's definitive book on the subject, he hid behind his profession:

“I am a very busy man. I am a doctor in practice.”
“That is no answer. If a man has a hobby he follows it up, whatever his other pursuits may be.

Well, Greg Ruby has certainly found time for his passion. Greg founded the group The Fourth Garrideb, a Sherlockian society made up of those interested in coin collecting. He also developed a website to accompany it, with plenty of information for those so inclined.

We cover Greg's early interested in Holmes and coins, and then take the time to explore some of the mentions of coinage in the Sherlock Holmes stories. There's much to cover, so gather up your loose change and sit close to the electronic Victrola...

We end with a very special Editor's Gas-Lamp: Christopher Morley's own poem "The Sun's Over the Forearm," which inspired the medal for the Three Hours for Lunch Club.

Information on sponsors, links, and notes available below.

 

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Sponsors

This episode includes our two longtime sponsors, plus a new addition. Please support our sponsors by visiting their sites:

• Wessex Press, publishers of One Fixed Point in a Changing Age.
• The Baker Street Journal, where you can pick up the eBSJ for searching and reading all of the back issues of the BSJ through 2010.

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Download [Save As] | File size 28.6 MB, 1:02:18

Notes

1:32 Cha-CHING! Welcome
2:34 Burt's grandmother was very generous
4:23 What to do with your spare change
6:52 Wessex Press
8:07 The Breakfast of Ex-Champions
9:04 Welcome Greg Ruby
11:45 Don't take any Buffalo nickels
13:15 The joy of meeting coin collectors
18:23 Greg's first meeting with Sherlock Holmes was kismet
21:07 Significant coins in the Sherlock Holmes stories
27:00 Inconsistencies in coinage in the Canon
29:02 The Gibraltar set from Pobjoy Mint
33:25 The story behind the Three Hours for Lunch Club medal
38:10 The origin of The Fourth Garrideb
45:15 Chocolate Sherlock Holmes coins
49:25 A future for Sherlockian challenge coins?
53:15 Our own coin collecting pasts
55:42 The Baker Street Journal
57:32 Gas-Lamp
1:00:23 Your import/export assignment

Links

• Money can be exchanged for goods and services
• The Fourth Garrideb - Numismatics of Sherlock Holmes
• The Gibraltar set of Sherlock Holmes coins
• Christopher Morley and The Three Hours For Lunch Club Medal
• Who Is R. Tait McKenzie?
• Coins in circulation during the era of the Sherlock Holmes stories
• The Fourth Garrideb on Facebook
  

Many more links, articles and images are available in our Flipboard magazine at ihose.co/flipsherlock, as well as on the The Sherlock Holmes Community on Google+ (with over 4,000 members), as well as through our accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

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Transcript

Transcript not yet released

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